Mishap in The Astronomy Tower
by chance45
Summary: Hermione uses the Astronomy tower as a place to escape Hogwarts life after the war. Soon after the term begins the eighth years have a party as an effort to unite the houses in which Hermione has to attend. A simple party game they play pulls her closer to fellow eighth year Draco Malfoy, and a mishap in the Astronomy Tower one night changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfic, so I'm gonna try my hardest to make it good. It's taking place 8** **th** **year, after the Battle of Hogwarts. The first chapter or two is just setting the groundwork. This is a Dramione story, with eventual smut and some other character pairings along the way.**

 ***I do not own any of the characters in the story, I simply enjoy writing about them. ***

Chapter 1: Escape

Hermione loved going to the astronomy tower. She was able to get away from the chaos of school. The tower provided her with a short reprieve from classes, and responsibilities as Head Girl, but mostly time away from all the people in the castle. The seventh years that didn't finish could come back and finish, but Harry had opted out, choosing Auror training instead. Ron had chosen to come back and attempted to rekindle the romance that he had with Hermione while hunting for Horcruxes, but it was for nothing. Hermione had written it down to the high-running emotions that they both had while on the run. Ron didn't want to believe that, but after trying and failing multiple times he receded to sulk in his dorm instead.

They had the same dorms as their seventh year, since only a select few had decided to come back, and since even fewer first years came in, they were easily able to stay with the second years. She often went up to the tower to study under the stars because she was able to focus better. Her Head Girl dorm was often to stuffy for her, even though she only shared it with Ron, who was Head Boy.

It was one of those nights where she retreated to the tower with the excuse of studying. It was a clear Friday night, and she could see the stars. She mapped out the constellations in her head and followed the movement of the thestrals as they flew in the sky. She was at peace up in the tower, despite the dark past it had. She thought about Dumbledore, and about everything that happened the year before. She hated finding peace in a place where he had fallen to his death, but she also welcomed it. To her it was a sign that she was able to put the past behind her.

Just as she was dosing off, Ron came bursting into the tower. "Hermione!" he cried breathless. "Come on we're going to a party." She frowned. Who was having a party and why? "What do you mean we're going to a party? Who in the world is having a party?"

"The Slytherins." Ron replied simply. "We're going to a party the Slytherins are having in the Room of Requirement. They invited us, and McGonagall thought it would be good for the unity of houses and whatnot."

"So, we have to go?" Hermione frowned. She didn't like the idea of a party, she would rather stay in the Astronomy Tower.

"Yeah, it's for eighth years of all houses, and since we're Head Boy and Girl, we kinda have to." Ron answered promptly. "I didn't like the idea of being around the Slytherins, but McGonagall insisted. I'd rather not go against her. She's bloody scary when she gets mad."

"I suppose we should go then." Hermione replied, still not completely sold on it. "As long as one of the professors knows what's going on."

"Come one then 'Mione, the room is going to seal itself at 10 and no one is going to be able to go in until at least 2." She let Ron pull her to the seventh floor, knowing arguing wouldn't help.

They arrived on the seventh floor and Ron spoke the password to get into the party and pulled her into the Room of Requirement. She slowly scanned the room, seeing people from all houses talking. There were mostly Slytherins and Gryffindors, a good amount of Ravenclaws, and only a handful of Hufflepuffs. Hermione guessed parties weren't their thing continued scanning, her eyes eventually falling on the smallest group of people in the room, a Slytherin group containing Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, and Draco Malfoy. She studied their movements, noticing that they didn't seem like they belonged. Everyone else at the party were relaxed, sitting on chairs or the floor and talking and laughing, socializing with the other houses. These four were staying in their group, looking rather stiff and barley talking. Hermione wondered why they came if they weren't going to interact with anyone else.

Rather than stay in the doorway and stare at everyone, Hermione moved into the party. She went to find some of her Gryffindor friends so she wouldn't feel so alone and alienated. She ran into Luna, Ginny, and Neville sitting on the floor in a circle.

"Hello Hermione." Luna said dreamily. "I was wondering when you were going to show up. I was afraid the Wrackspurts had gotten to you."

"Thanks Luna, but I was just studying is all." Hermione replied sitting with them.

"I figured so." Ginny replied. "You're always studying these days. You've barely any free time anymore."

"That's not true." Neville chimed in. "She's got free time she just uses it to study."

Hermione sheepishly grinned and the group laughed. Neville passed her a bottle of butterbeer and she gladly accepted, taking a drink and giving him a nod.

As people started drinking more, the atmosphere in the room relaxed a lot more. Even the four Slytherins started relaxing. That is, until Pansy relaxed too much and suggested the group play some party games.

"Hey Head Girl!" she called to Hermione. "Can we play truth or dare or something? This party is boring."

"If you guys want to. I figured since we're all pretty much adults that game would be a little too childish." Hermione replied. Pansy giggled and called everyone to the middle of the room.

"Hey guys we're gonna play truth or dare. Come to the circle if you want to join. If not then just stand around like a bunch of losers." Pansy called. Most of the people in the room went to the circle immediately, some looked skeptical about it but eventually decided there was no reason not to. Soon all the eighth years were seated in a circle in the middle of the room, ready to play.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, I've decided to post once a week, sometime in the week. I have free time randomly throughout the week so I'm not sure if it'll be consistent as to the day, but I'll try and post it the day I finish the chapter. I hope this story is enjoyable, but we'll see where the story goes, and I might shorten it if people don't want to read it. Also, the first chapter was shorter than I would have liked it to be, but I just needed it to introduce the plot. I promise the rest will be longer. One more thing, I know I said it was an eighth year party, but I couldn't find enough eighth years so I decided to expand it to seventh years to. Anyways be sure to review and let me know what you guys think!**

Hermione looked around the circle. She recognized almost everyone in the room. She went through each person mentally remembering their names. She was surprised to find that there was a lot less people than she initially thought at the party. She was also surprised to see that there were some seventh years among them. They must have been invited by the eighth years. She figured it was because not too many people came back for their eighth year and focused her attention instead on a very drunk Pansy, who was standing in the middle of the circle of people.

"So, as I said we're playing truth or dare. Just so you know I'm going to charm it. If you pick dare and you don't do it, you'll have to a worse dare that you can't refuse. And you can't not do it or there will be consequences and you will not like them." Pansy said with an evil grin.

"Wait," Hermione interjected frowning. "There are some things people shouldn't be made to do."

"Fine. You can't make anyone do anything of the sexual nature." Pansy sighed. "Takes all the fun out. Anyways if you pick truth and you don't answer you have to drink."

Everyone nodded and agreed to the rules of the game and it started. They used Pansy's wand to choose the first person. It landed on Dean Thomas and he laughed. "So, do I ask someone, or do you ask me since you spun?" He asked Pansy. "I ask you." She replied devilishly. "Truth or dare?"

He contemplated for a second before choosing. Hermione could see the wheels turning in his head. He shrugged and answered. "Dare. May as well get the fun going."

Pansy laughed and barely hesitated before replying. "I dare you to lose the shirt."

For the first time all night Draco spoke. "Of course you would choose that one. You're drunk and haven't had a guy in weeks."

Pansy giggled. "Not entirely true. I just thought I would do what he said and get the fun going."

"It's alright anyways I don't mind." Dean laughed and pulled his shirt over his head. He balled it up in his hand and threw it at Pansy. "There Parkinson keep it as a souvenir." She giggled again and caught the shirt, tossing it behind her. "Your turn you bloody Gryffindor."

Dean spun the wand and watched it swirl around the group of people. It slowed and stopped on Ron, who not-so-subtly groaned. He was hoping to get chosen as little as possible.

"Truth." He said before Dean could even ask. "I'm not doing anything stupid tonight,"

Nott laughed. "Where's that Gryffindor courage Weasley? Aren't you supposed to be the brave ones?"

"There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity, Theo." Draco spoke up for the second time. "Weasel just doesn't want to cross that line. Might lose his position as Head Boy if he does something to stupid."

Ron narrowed his eyes at the Slytherin. Hermione was sure if the room wasn't full of people he would've said something back, but thankfully he held his tongue. Hermione would have liked the rivalry between the two houses to have died with the war, and it seemed Malfoy's insults were more snarky comments, but even if Malfoy forgot all about it Ron never would. He was to stubborn.

"Alright stop killing the party mood people we're just trying to have fun." Neville was trying to calm the two sides down when Dean spoke up to. "Yeah guys we're all here to have fun. So, let's have fun. Ron, are you ready for your question? With one last glance at Malfoy, Ron nodded. "Fine what is it?"

"What's your worst childhood memory?" Dean asked looking interested.

Ron snorted. "You mean other than my best friend getting tortured by Voldemort a different way every year?" he asked. "It would probably be the day of the Battle. When Fred died." He answered solemnly. Even though he answered, he took a large swig of the fireball in his hand and gulped it down.

Everyone sobered up after Ron's confession. Finally, Pansy spoke. "Seriously people it's a party lighten up. Weasley, spin the bloody wand so we can get back to the game. And no more war talk. Isn't the point of this party to unite together?"

Hermione spoke up. "She's right. No more talking about the war and we should at least try not to bring the party down." She looked at Ron expectantly. It's your turn Ronald. Don't mess it up."

Ron rolled his eyes and spun the wand. He watched reluctantly as it landed on Malfoy. He rolled his eyes again. "Truth or dare Malfoy?" he asked venomously.

Malfoy ignored the tone in his voice. He glared at Ron, narrowing his eyes. He went from the wand that was pointed right at him, to around the circle, to back at Ron. Finally, he shrugged, the glare leaving his face.

"Dare" he said, simply.

Ron didn't try to hide the surprise on his face. He had expected Malfoy to scowl, choose truth, and drink instead of answering. Maybe Malfoy had too much to drink.

"Well? Are you going to give me a dare or sit there gawking at me?" Malfoy was getting impatient. He wanted to go back to his dorm and be done with this party.

Ron sneered. He would make Malfoy pay. He looked around the circle and tried to find someone Malfoy would hate to do anything with. He mentally went through all the girls in the room. Luna, Ginny, Lavender, Parkinson, the Greengrass girls, the Patil twins, Susan Boot. He swept over the rest and finally his eyes fell on Hermione. He loved her, but she didn't love him. He smiled to himself, satisfied with his decision.

"I dare you to snog Hermione."

Hermione looked up, startled. What in the world had gotten into him? She knew Ron had strong feeling that she didn't share, but she never expected him to get so unpredictable. Had he been hurt more than he let on? Was this his way of getting back at her? Why with Malfoy? Even after the war Ron still hated him.

Across the circle Malfoy was hardly surprised. He knew what he was in for when he chose dare. The only thing that surprised him was it being Granger. He never really hated muggle-borns, he just had to act like he did. He stopped insulting her so much in 6th year, when he realized his father's intentions for his family. And if he was being honest with himself, he was always intrigued by Granger. She was after all, the brightest witch of her age.

But why her?

He turned to Ron and looked him dead in the eye. "Let me get this straight Weasley, you want to sit there, and watch me snog the girl you have been in love with for years?" He smirked as he watched Weasley's face go as red as his hair.

Malfoy looked over to Hermione to see her reaction to the dare. She was sitting up straight, her face a mask and she was looking at nothing. He could tell she wanted to be somewhere else. He didn't blame her.

The other students in the room were getting impatient. "Either do it or not we don't have all night" Pansy whined. There were nods of agreement al around the room.

Draco sighed. He got up and moved to the other side of the circle where Hermione was sitting. He crouched next to her and whispered in her ear. "Are you ok with this?" he asked.

Hermione was surprised. She hadn't expected him to ask her that, she more expected him to sneer about her being a muggle-born and refuse. She shrugged and nodded.

Draco sighed again. He leaned in, close enough that Hermione could feel his breath. "Are you sure?" he asked again. She nodded again. She closed her eyes and felt him close the distance between the two of them. She barely had a second to think before his lips were on hers. She was slightly surprised about how soft they were, and even more surprised when he slid his hand behind her head and deepened the kiss. Finally, the two broke apart, and Draco went back to his spot in the circle, ignoring his rapidly beating heart and the stares form his classmates.

Everyone sat quietly for a couple of minutes, until Luna spoke up. "I suppose we should continue the game. It would be a shame to stop it because of a slightly uncomfortable turn of events. Not everyone has gone yet." Even though she was slightly shocked from the dare, Hermione nodded in agreement. "Of course. Luna is right. Draco, I suppose it's your turn to spin the wand." She blushed slightly as she realized she called him Draco instead of Malfoy, but no one seemed to notice. Everyone was so interested in getting back to the game.

Draco spun the wand and the game continued. It landed on Seamus, who picked truth. After Seamus, the wand landed on one of the Patil twins. The game continued, and while it was going on Hermione went on thinking. Why hadn't Malfoy refused the dare? Why had Ron dared him to do that in the first place? Was it simply because he thought Malfoy would refuse it or was it something more?

She was snapped out of her train of thought by laughter as Harper, a seventh year Slytherin started dancing quite ridiculously for his dare. She averted her eyes from the boy and found herself looking instead at Draco. He was flushed and obviously drunk and seemed to be lost in his thoughts. She noticed that he was leaning quite heavily on Pansy, who was also very drunk. They were practically in each other's laps.

Finally, Harper stopped dancing and the game went on. Ron had left the circle and sat on the couches after Draco's dare, so he simply sat staring at the others. Harper's spin of the wand landed on Susan Bones, who chose dare and gave Blaise a lap-dance. Her spin landed on Terry Boot, who was so drunk he chose truth and told the group the person he most wanted to shag was Daphne Greengrass, who then winked at the Ravenclaw causing him to turn bright red.

Hermione decided she needed a break from the game, and got out of the circle, heading towards the couch. She sat next to Ron, who gave her a look and started talking before she could take a breath.

"I bet you want to ask me why I dared him to do that."

Hermione was surprised but didn't show it.

"I assumed you thought he would refuse the dare and chose something different." She answered simply.

"Well he didn't. He probably did it just to spite me, the right bloody git."

"To be fair it was a dare. One that you chose for him Ronald. Besides, have you ever known Malfoy to shy away from a fight?"

Ron looked thoughtful for a second, before frowning. "He was right you know. I've been in love with you for years. I figured since you didn't love me, I may as well see if you snogging someone else would make me realize it isn't meant to be." His frown deepened. "But I was wrong. Now all I want to do is get the git in the face."

Hermione looked at him. "I understand that, but there are better ways to go about things. Besides, you know it isn't meant to be you just chose to ignore it." Hermione could care less about being rash. She knew Ron was drunk enough not to remember it in the morning.

She turned her gaze back to the game going on in the middle of the room, her thought wandering yet again.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I should probably tell you guys it's going to be a couple chapters before smut happens, but I promise it does in chapter 8. I hope you won't mind I need a couple of things to happen before then. Anyways be sure to review and tell me how I'm doing. I would love to hear your thoughts on the story!**

The next day Hermione woke up in her bed in her Head Girl dorm. She vaguely remembered the party ending and her and Ron sending people back to their dorms. Well, more her than Ron seeing as he was so drunk he could barely stand.

She groaned as her head pounded with a residual hangover. She didn't remember drinking that much, but then again she barely remembered the party. Her thoughts were on the kiss she shared with Malfoy most of the night.

She got out of bed with another groan and walked over to her shelf for some hangover potion. Immediately she felt better. Slipping on a robe she pushed her unruly hair out of her eyes and walked over to the shared bathroom to shower.

As the warm water fell down her face and onto her lips, she once again thought about Malfoy's kiss. She closed her eyes as she imagined his lips on hers again, his hand behind her head. She thought about his soft hair and piercing grey eyes. She heard a small sigh escape from her lips as she thought of his breath on her neck, his long eyelashes brushing her cheek…

Her thoughts were interrupted as Ron pounded on the door from the bathroom to his room.

"Oi Hermione I kinda need to use the bathroom too."

Hermione sighed as she turned the water off and got out. She wrapped a towel around her head and pulled her robe on. She unlocked Ron's door and turned around to go to her room to ready for breakfast.

"Hermione"

She turned around sharply, surprised by the soft low tone of Ron's voice.

He seemed to be caught off guard by the suddenness of her movements. He shuffled his feet and cleared his throat.

"I just wanted to say that I was sorry for yesterday at the party. I shouldn't have made the git do that and I understand if you're angry with me for it." He spoke so quietly she could barely make it out.

Immediately anger started boiling beneath her skin. She knew Ron wasn't being sincere. The only reason he would regret what happened at the party was because he had realized that the plan he had to humiliate Malfoy and use Hermione to do it had backfired. Malfoy didn't show any signs of anger and Hermione didn't quite care. Ron was apologizing to try and throw suspicion off pf his true reason for doing it.

"Unlike you Ronald I know it was nothing more than a childish dare from a childish game. I know that you did it to try to convince yourself that it wasn't meant to be but all it was just a game. I could have easily gotten dared to snog several other guys in that room. I'm almost certain you did it as revenge toward both me and Malfoy."

She was surprised by the venom in her voice but she continued.

"If you want to humiliate Malfoy do so on your own accord but using me because he hates my blood status is horrid of you. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get dressed."

She turned on her heel and stalked out of the bathroom. She didn't realize how angry she was at him until then. He had used her to get back at Malfoy for all the horrid things he had done in the past. She hated being used like that.

The part about it that confused her the most was the fact that she enjoyed the kiss with Malfoy. She found herself running her tongue along her lips, wanting to feel his again. She shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. She couldn't be walking around with thoughts like that. She had to put what had happened behind her and forget about it. She bit her bottom lip to keep herself from doing it again and made her way to the Great Hall with determination.

She was too busy thinking about things that would hopefully clear her head of the party so she could move on that she ran right into Malfoy as he came out of the Great Hall. The two students fell over each other with Hermione falling on top of Malfoy in quite an awkward position. Hermione blushed bright red and began stumbling as she tried to get up. Her attempts were feeble and she ended up falling back on top of him multiple times, their robes tangled in a heaping mess. Finally, both students managed to get up, and Hermione tried to apologize.

"I'm sorry I didn't see-"

She was interrupted as Malfoy hurried away without so much as a second glance at Hermione. She stood in front of the door to the Great Hall confused and flushed. Why had he been so cold to her? She had done nothing wrong. Her running into him was a simple mistake. Her gut wrenched as it dawned on her. He was probably disgusted with her and what had happened at the party. He was probably also disgusted with the fact that she had fallen right on top of him. Of course. Why wouldn't he be? He had always been disgusted with her. He was a pureblood, and she was just a muggle-born. In his eyes she was nothing more than dirt on his shoes. A nuisance to be wiped away and forgotten. That wasn't going to change because of a stupid party game. She wondered how much worse it was after the night before. He had probably had his fellow Slytherins curse him for the mistake he made. Maybe Ron's plan had worked after all, at least on Malfoy's end.

Why had it mattered to her so much? She never cared very much about what Malfoy thought about her before. What changed? She didn't have an answer, so she wrote it down to the fact that after the party she falsely assumed he would be less cold towards her. She had gotten her hopes up, and she needed to have a reality check.

She blinked away tears that were rapidly forming and held her head high as she walked into breakfast. She didn't care about what Malfoy had thought about her before last night, and she would continue not caring after. She had other things to worry about.

She got to the Gryffindor table and sat down in her usual spot, next to Ginny. She wasn't surprised that Ron wasn't in his usual seat across from her because he had woken up later than usual. After about 20 minutes, she was starting to get worried about him.

Finally, he stalked into the great hall. He was stony-faced and didn't look to happy. Instead of sitting across from Hermione, we walked to the very end of the table and sat with some first years, who were surprised and slightly scared, scooting farther away from the glaring Head Boy.

Hemione was confused. Yes, she had yelled at him but didn't he see how much that hurt her? Could he not see logic?

She sighed. She wished Harry had come back with them, he could always talk some sense into Ron. She continued eating, troubling thoughts going through her head the whole time.

Hermione had been wandering about the castle and grounds for a couple of hours. She wasn't doing anything, just walking around troubled and thinking. What had gotten into Ron? Did Malfoy actually hate her that much? Her head was spinning by the time she had gotten to the entrance of her dorm, and she stood in front of the portrait dazed. Swiftly, she turned on her heel and headed for the Astronomy Tower. She didn't understand why she hadn't just gone there in the first place. It always made her feel better.

As she neared the tower, her head started to clear and she began to feel better. She arrived at the Astronomy Tower, feeling infinitely better that if she would have gone to her room. She summoned her books and conjured a comfy chair next to the railing of the tower. She settled in, getting lost in her world of fictional and nonfictional characters, stories and myths of the wizarding world that never ceased to amaze her.

While Hermione was lost in the world of books in the Astronomy Tower, Draco was having a small crisis in the dungeon dorm room he shared with Blaise, Nott, and Harper.

"Why the bloody hell did I do that? Have I gone mental?" He was ranting to Blaise, who stood examining his nailbeds and looking bored in the middle of the doorway.

"Calm down mate. It was just a bloody game. If it makes you feel better hex the Mudblood to next century the next time you see her." Malfoy flinched at the use of the derogatory term towards Hermione. Blaise was unaware that Malfoy was talking about ignoring Hermione outside of the Great Hall, not snogging her at the party. Ever since, he hadn't been able to get his mind off her. When they ran into each other, he freaked out and basically ran away. He cursed himself. Malfoy's don't run, they stay and fight. But he didn't feel like a Malfoy around her. His family was always the most successful, proud, intelligent purebloods in the room. But around Hermione he didn't feel like any of that. He felt like he was the inferior, not her. And it scared him. Why did she have such an effect on him?

The look on her face when he walked away surprised him. She looked almost broken. Maybe she was just tired of the constant hell he's put her through. He hated to be the cause of her distress. He knew he tortured her a fair bit when they first started at Hogwarts, but as he got older he realized the corrupted morals his family held. He stopped harassing the Golden Trio as much.

He groaned and Blaise began watching him as he summoned a quill and parchment. He sat down and began writing feverishly, his quill scratching the parchment. Blaise cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. He had never seen Draco so out of order before. Had the experience with the Mudblood really affected him that much? Draco barely noticed as Blaise left the room. He continued writing on his parchment, stopping to think every so often. Finally he finished and called over his owl, a magnificent tawny owl. He strapped the letter to her leg and sent her off, watching her fly into the sky and disappear.


End file.
